Ingerland

Interlude 17: Suspect

Jesse shares his suspicions about a visitor

12

NOV/15

Jesse Cook and Douglas Smith sat next to one another in Douglas’ smithy. It was early, few walking the streets quite yet. As was their habit, they were going over the weekly intelligence information that Jesse collected.

“Anything else, on the horizon maybe?” Douglas asked.

“Just one thing,” Jesse answered. “I’ve heard you and Jason talking about the trouble you had meeting with anyone in a real leadership position in Varn.”

“Yes, a headache,” Douglas injected.

“Well, strangely,” Jesse said, leaning close, “while you’ve been having difficulty meeting the right people in Varn, some important people from Varn have been visiting Ingerland quite often, even quite regularly.”

“I said a headache,” Douglas explained. “They’re not our enemy. They’re welcome visitors, so long as they follow our laws.”

“I’m just telling you that one person in particular, a ranger priestess of Erastil no less, has been a regular,” Jesse said.

“Well, we do have a priest of Erastil in Ingerland,” Douglas replied with a shrug. “It can’t be unusual for them to interact.”

“No,” Jesse conceded, “and visits to Jhod on their own wouldn’t have caught my attention. It’s the way the visits occur, different routes, sometimes Ingerton, sometimes visiting Jhod, but once a month for last seven months. That’s a pretty regular schedule, camouflaged by traveling to different locations. This is a common trick in espionage.”

“There’s one other tidbit,” Jesse added. “I’ve heard she’s close, as in really close, to Maegar Varn. He’s supposed to be a bit unstable. What if she’s here as his eyes and ears, meeting with spies here. What if he’s planning on making a move on us? Maybe he thinks we’re an easier target for expansion than those centaur fields that are giving him so many problems.”

“Interesting,” Douglas replied. “You know who you should talk to is Jason. He knows her pretty well, though I’ll be surprised if he has anything bad to say. He speaks pretty highly of her.”

“I can’t say any of this is true, yet” Jesse responded. “I’m just speculating, but it is suspicious. I want to know just who she’s meeting with when she visits Ingerland.”

“Tread carefully,” Douglas said. “We don’t want to start any trouble with Varn unnecessarily. Keep me apprised, and if it turns into anything, we’ll bring it to the Council.”